Have you bothered to take cognizance of your appearance in a social context? This is very crucial because it is part of your nonverbal actions that communicate a whole lot to people you are dealing with. There is a little wonder Presentation Prep postulates on its website thus: “Appearance alone doesn’t make the speaker, but it does determine the image the audience forms of you and may influence the effectiveness of your presentation. Dress the way you would like the audience to perceive you. Follow some basic rules: Be neat. Iron your clothes. Shine your shoes. Clean and trim your fingernails. Check your makeup. Brush your teeth. You get the idea.”
Be aware that your clothes can project a high authority image, a neutral image, or a low authority image. Remember to dress for the audience and not for yourself. This means taking into account the demographics of the audience – age, level, education, industry – as well as their cultural expectations. A key guideline is to never dress less formally than your audience. Get to know the styles, cuts, and colors which flatter your height, weight, and body type. If necessary, seek the guidance of an image consultant to help you assemble an appropriate wardrobe and present a more professional image. While it is true that inner qualities are important, poor first impressions are difficult to erase. So why jeopardize your success? (Presentation Prep, 2018).
When you are dealing with people outside of your nationality, take cultural differences into account. Nevertheless, stay true to who you are. Don’t adapt to local cultural styles so much that you compromise your professionalism or appear to be pandering for acceptance. If you wish to wear clothes from another culture, save them for after-work hours. Also, don’t shop alone for ethnic clothing. Take along a trusted friend, colleague, or colleague’s wife, who can advise you about appropriate styles and colors in that country. This applies especially to women. For example, if a businesswoman were to travel to India and decide to wear a sari for dinner, she would need to wear a matching blouse and sandals to complete the look. Making do with a t-shirt or sneakers on a sari could make her appear silly and compromise her professional image (Presentation Plan, 2018).
For men, appropriate dress means that it is better to wear a suit and tie. That way, if the audience is dressed casually you can always take off your jacket, or later, even your tie. However, you cannot put on an item of clothing that you do not have! A dark blue suit works with almost all shades of skin color. A white, or lightly striped shirt is a good, formal choice. Shirts with checkered designs come across as more casual. Similarly, women should select classic business-style clothing and avoid dressing in ways that draw attention away from the message of their presentation. In particular they should stay away from excessive jewelry, short skirts, low necklines or anything which compromises their professionalism (Presentation Plan, 2018).
Understanding body language is one of the most important aspects of personal presentation. The image conveyed by the physical self should support and enhance what is being communicated verbally. If the visual image differs widely from the spoken message, it is often the non-verbal account that is believed. The way you sit, stand, your gestures and mannerisms and your facial expressions will say far more about you and how you are feeling at any given time than the words you are using. When individuals are nervous or uneasy, their behavioral ‘bad habits’ become more pronounced. This is why your appearance should be a source of concern to you (Skills You Need, 2018).
Working on body language is a way of improving personal presentation. For example, when concentrating on something rather hard, your expression may look troubled, when in reality you are not anxious at all, just absorbed. This does not mean you should go around with a fixed smile on your face, but just be aware that your physical self might send one set of signals when your mind is involved elsewhere. Body language can also be used as a mask to convey contrary feelings. How often have you nodded firmly when you did not understand a word, smiled when your instinct was to scowl, clapped enthusiastically at the end of a talk that nearly put you to sleep? In these cases you were not being hypocritical, but using body language positively as the mechanism of good manners. Our gestures are part of our personalities, a part of how we express ourselves and they matter a lot. Hand and arm movements can add emphasis, aid explanation and convey enthusiasm. They only become a negative signal when repeated so often that they become irritating to the observer. Listeners can become so side-tracked by the sight of someone constantly playing with their hair, tapping on the table with a pen, etc., that they no longer listen to the spoken word. These negative signals can break down the communication process (Skills You Need, 2018).
It is human nature to make compromises. All individuals change their approach depending on the people they meet and what they feel is expected from them. Your ‘on-duty’ self, the one who functions in public, is different from your ‘off-duty’ self, the one concerned with home, family and friends. Everyone has many and varied roles in life. You can be one person and be a parent, son/daughter, brother/sister, friend, adviser, patient, client and consumer all in one day.
These differing roles all require their own particular qualities and skills in personal communication and can also call upon different requirements of attitude and appearance, i.e., of visual image. Your external image (appearance) is how you are seen by the world, whereas the real you (not a role model or the person you would like to be) is someone who is honest with themselves. But may I advise that you should always strive to put on a positive image at all times when appearing in public—maintain good eye contact, smile appropriately, give a firm handshake, nod in agreement, look interested in what is being said and sit squarely (Skills You Need, 2018).
References
Skills You Need (2018). Personal Appearance. Retrieved from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/personal-appearance.html
Presentation Prep (2018).Body Language—Appearance and Clothing. Retrieved from https://www.presentationprep.com/body-language-appearance-clothes/
WSTM (2018). The Meaning Behind Personal Accessories. Retrieved from http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap13.html
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